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| Cpl. Greenly |
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The Northwest Mounted Police has a long and important history in the southwest of Saskatchewan. It was here that the March West went through along the Red Coat Trail. It was here that the NWMP were called in to handle the influx of Native Americans coming into the area after the Battle of Little Big Horn. Even for the community of Climax, the NWMP played its part.
Established to maintain law and order in the west, the region of Climax played a big part in one of the first tests for the NWMP. It was in 1876, when the aforementioned Battle of Little Big Horn happened in Montana. After the battle, the native people came up to Canada to escape American revenge for the loss on their soil. The NWMP increased their patrols around their base of operations in the area, located near The Stone Pile Crossing. The Stone Pile Post was established a few years previous and was now serving a very important purpose.
It soon became apparent there was little need for the increased patrols as the Native People and Sitting Bull were all very friendly, just looking for a place to call home.
A bigger problem was American cattlemen, who were allowing their cattle to graze on unoccupied grasslands on the Canadian side of the border. The NWMP were called upon to enforce the regulations and push the rogue cattle off Canadian lands. Through rain, heat and snow, the NWMP worked to keep Americans off Canadian soil, and by the severe winter of 1906-07, the cattle operations were disappearing and were completely gone by 1910.
As the NWMP moved through the area, often on horseback to patrol thousands of square kilometres alone, they would billet with local farmers. The first farm used as a billet in the Climax area was the farm of J.N. Brooks, just north of Climax. Eventually, a new post was set up near the border to help manage the border and prevent Canadians from going across to buy goods in American shops.
Until the 1920s, the NWMP continued patrols on horseback but they would eventually move to having motorized patrols using automobiles. By 1923, in Climax anyways, there were no more RCMP using horseback to patrol. With this faster mode of transportation, the billeting stopped for the most part as well.
Cattle rustling began to be a problem in the 1920s, so the RCMP established a detachment in the village itself with Constable G.A. Hillock serving as the man in charge of the detachment from September of 1928 until December of 1931. Due to his no nonsense approach, cattle rustling quickly came to an end in the area.
The RCMP continue to be an important part of the area, providing law and order to the Canadian prairie.
